Edward Thomas : A Mirror of England : First printing

When Edward Thomas was killed in the battle of Arras in 1917, he was mourned as an essayist, biographer, and as one of the foremost critics of his time. His talent for poetry was known only to close friends. Of the 144 poems he had written during the last two and a half years of his life, he was to see only a dozen in print. The discovery of his talent for poetry, sparked by his friendship with Robert Frost, was a turning point in his life.

Elaine Wilson, born and educated in Switzerland, first compiled an anthology about Harrow on the Hill, As I Trace Thy Winding Hill ('What an enchanting book.' Sir Arthur Bryant), and then followed with Thomas Hardy: An Autobiography in Verse, and Images of Christmas Frederick Marns was the calligrapher for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre edition of The Sonnets ('A beautiful and covetable book.' The Times) and the illustrator of an editin of The Natural History of Selbourne with ten drawings ('...which Durer would not be ashamed to acknowledge.' Sunday Times) In Thomas Hardy: An Autobiography in Verse, his calligraphy and pencil drawings were brought together for the first time. When Edward Thomas was killed in the battle of Arras in 1917, he was mourned as an essayist, as a biographer and as one of the foremost critics of his time. His talent for poetry, however, was known only to close friends and of the hundred and forty-four poems he had written during the last two and a half years of his life, he was to see only a dozen in print.